1. Field
The disclosed embodiments of the invention relate generally to the operation of content distribution systems, and more particularly, to methods and apparatus for providing content information to content servers in a data network.
2. Background
In media-distribution systems, a program guide (PG), which describes a delivery schedule of available content or services, may be provided to content servers (CSs) in a distribution network. For example, a content provider that operates on the distribution network may provide the PG to CSs in communication with the network. The CSs receiving the PG operate to display information in the PG to device users who then may select content or services to be received by a device. For example, a device user may select and/or subscribe to receive content or services that include multimedia content, clips, programs, scripts, data, customer services, or any other type of content or service.
Therefore, what is needed is a system that operates to provide content information to content servers in a distribution network, so that the content servers may update their locally stored copies of the content in an efficient manner. The system should also operate to minimize the amount of PG information that is transmitted to allow content servers to update their locally stored copies of the content, while avoiding wasteful transmission and/or re-transmissions of whole content information.